Hera took a peek at the restaurant near the headquarters. Just like Silah said, the place was very loud and full of people. The moment someone noticed her, everyone stopped to stare at the human. That made Hera almost run away.

"I guess I'm still news for everyone here. Maybe I should just go home," Hera mumbled.

She walked through the street, heading back to her place, but a loud clanging noise distracted her. Looking to the side, she noticed the forge with a dozen boxes all spread around the building. The sound came from inside where Silah was working. It felt weird to leave her training partner alone while she had so much to do. Even if Hera wasn't a crafter like her, maybe she could help. Silah would always forget to drink water or go to the bathroom, only going when Hera said she needed a break. Grabbing some food was the best option right now.

"Do they have takeout here?" she asked herself before going to the restaurant that Silah talked about. Unfortunately, that particular restaurant didn't have any food to go. There were only a handful of places that prepared food for people who wanted to eat someplace else. One of the bistros was on the other side of the town, but one close could make various types of sandwiches. Some could even be grilled. This was mainly for people who wanted to stay by the lake during the day, but Hera considered it an excellent food for someone working. Helena used to love getting those types of things as a meal. It allowed her to have small breaks while doing her research without having to worry about starving.

Hera headed there, and after around 20 minutes of hearing the owner talk about all the different variations of sandwiches he had, she managed to order. The odd thing was that she didn't have to pay anything. All she did was ask about the flavors, and the shop owner got them ready for her. She tried to ask about how did that worked. Using something without using money was very odd. Unfortunately, he wasn't very helpful in that regard. All Hera found out was that he would grab some food early morning and give any leftovers back in the evening.

With a stone basket covered with some cloth in hand and a jug of juice, Hera went back towards the forge. The shop owner didn't sell any drinks, but after Hera asked, he offered his personal ceramic jar and didn't take no for an answer. Going back to the forge, she saw Silah outside, carrying one of the large boxes filled with equipment to the headquarters. Hera arrived just as the box hit the ground.

"I have to say, you don't seem that strong when we are fighting. Are you holding back on me?"

"What? Oh, hi! Erm... Hello," Silah looked at the box, "A little bit, but it was the captain's orders. She said that if I used all my strength, I could hurt you because of the level difference. It's not that I wasn't taking anything seriously, I promise, and I'm really, really sorry!"

Silah spoke so quickly that it was even hard for Hera to follow, "Hey, hey. It's ok. I get why you held back. I already get enough bruises during our training. If you went all out, I would probably have broken a few things."

"I would never do that! No, I can never hurt you like that, and you are amazing, you know. I'm not sure anyone ever got the Subtle Strike skill so fast."

"C'mon, I'm sure someone else got it. If not, it's probably because I'm used to fighting. I'm nowhere near that impressive. Blue got her skill in what, two days?"

"You can't compare yourself with other people. Take some credit for what you do."

Hera tilted her head, "Weren't you the one comparing me?"

Silah opened her mouth, then looked towards the box, "Anyway. What brings you back here?"

"I had a feeling you were the type to forget about lunch. So I got us some sandwiches," Hera showed the basket.

"Oh, you didn't have to. I was going to eat later."

"Later when?"

"… at dinner."

"Yeah, no. Let's eat something now. Is there a good place around here?"

"We can sit by the forge wall.There is a nice view of the lake and the headquarters here," Silah pointed to a place.

They walked over and started eating. Hera had no idea what Silah liked to eat, so she got a nice spread of sandwiches. Silah picked one with lettuce and carrots while Hera took a BLT. As they ate, Silah asked various questions about life outside the city. How the cities were, the things that Hera had seen, and the places she'd been. Hera did her best to answer the questions while being careful. There were a few things that the king had asked her not to mention, and the last thing she needed was to lose the little trust they had gained. However, the stories quickly became depressing. Remembering that she was stuck in this room wasn't exactly her definition of fun.

"So, let's talk about you now. What are you doing here? Just sharpening things?" Hera asked.

"That's part of it. I need to fix any bends in the weapons too. Once a week, I forge a couple of new weapons or armor for anyone who is using one for too long. Sometimes I also have to drop by the mine for materials."

"The mine? There is still ore there? I figured 12 hundred years would be enough to clean it out."

"What? The mine is replenished once a month. The mountain makes the ore grow again, and its voice warns us when it is about to happen. Why would it ever run out?"

"Oh, back home, there are mines that don't refill. If you take a piece of ore, it will never show up again."

Silah stopped in the middle of a bite, "Are you serious?" she asked with a mouth full.

"What?"

Silah finished chewing, "Sorry, are you serious?"

"Yeah, some places don't have unlimited resources, and others…" Hera thought for a moment. How could she explain that part without mentioning other rooms and the MAZE? "Other places don't have respawnable materials. "

"I guess they don't have the blessing of the mountain," Silah said.

"It might be. Outs…. In other places, people don't talk about the voice of the mountain."

"Really? People don't see its sky blue messages?"

"We do see them, but we call it by a different name. I can't say where the name comes from, but we just call it 'The System.'" Hera explained.

"The System?"

"Yeah, weird, right? It was a name created a long time ago, but we don't treat it as well as you guys. Those small shrines you have in your homes to thank the mountain is not something we tend to do. Well… there is a religion that worships the System, but not many people are a part of it. We take the System for granted since even if someone doesn't do anything special, they still can use it."

"But it's not about getting something in return. It's about thanking for what we are given. Even if we don't have anything to ask for, we pray to the mountain to thank it for everything it provides us," Silah explained.

Hera nodded, "Yeah, I get that. It's a nice sentiment, but no one back home does that," Hera looked to the basket, "Do you want the last one?"

"It's all yours. If I eat more, I'll be sleepy, and I still have a lot of work to do."

"Can I help?" Hera took a bite of the last sandwich.

"Well, do you know how to repair weapons and armor?"

Hera nodded and showed her handaxe as an example of her work. Silah instantly went to her work mode, noticing how she had sharpened it and the places where she used too much strength. She also realized that the balance of the weapon was weird. Just by staring at the metal, the genius blacksmith could tell its weight distribution, but this handaxe didn't match how it was supposed to be. Silah could tell if there was any enchantment that changed how the mana would be inside the weapon, but even that felt wrong.

"What did you do with this weapon? Do all humans have weapons like this?" Silah asked.

"What do you mean?"

"The balance is all wrong. I mean, it's not bad, but it's not right."

"Oh no, that's something I did. I learned how to do that with Rose, another crafter. We can shift the mana inside a weapon to change its weight. Now I was just trying out a few things to see how I can handle it better."

"Really? Can you show me? I've tried doing that before, but it always messes up with the enchantment placed in the weapon."

"Only if I can help you finish your work. I can't help with armor, but am I good enough for weapons?"

"Yeah, yeah. Of course. Even if there are a few mistakes, I can fix them quickly. With you here, I might get home for dinner."

"Let's go then. If we have time, I can show you how that skill works."

They headed towards the forge and started working. Thanks to Hera's help, Silah finished all the work that had piled up during the week in one afternoon. They spent most of the time talking while repairing the weapons. During small breaks, Hera tried to explain how the Weapon Rebalance skill worked. During their second break, Silah got the skill already at the novice rank.

A little after 8 P.M., they were done with all the gear that needed repairs. Silah thanked Hera, saying there was no way she could've done all that without her. In reality, without Hera, the blacksmith would take only a couple of extra hours to finish the work, but she was genuinely thankful for all the help. Silah offered to get Hera dinner as thanks, but she refused. Blue was still at home, and Hera was worried.

Risli gave Blue some ointments and a couple of potions for the pain, and now she was feeling much better. By her estimates, it would still be a couple of days before she was dungeon ready, but she could at least train the next day thanks to the medicine. The next morning, Hera decided to stop by Risli's before going to the guard. She asked the guard before leaving, and she didn't have to go early in the morning to the guard. Her reason to go to the hut was to ask Risli to teach her any spells to remove poison and any healing spells. Risli wasn't much fond of the idea of having a student, but since Hera just wanted to learn a few spells and not the entire craft, Risli accepted her as a temporary student, after all, the human wasn't that bad of a company.

The shifts for the dungeon for the next few days were already decided by Naka. Hera and Blue and their training partners, as well as the captain, were all scheduled to enter the Wooly Plains in 5 days. Luckily for Hera, that was enough time to figure out a poison control spell. Risli was actually trying to teach her how to remove poison by pulling it away from the body, but the spell Hera got was a bit different.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poison Control

Rank: Intermediate

Allows the user to control the behavior of poisons. If the poison was not created by the user, there is a chance that the user won't be able to control it. The amount of mana used will depend on the change desired.

Base mana cost to Nullify the poison: 1x the amount used to create the poison

Base mana cost to Boost the poison: 2x the amount used to create the poison

Base mana cost to Change the poison's effect: 4x the amount used to create the poison

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~